'Boeing-Boeing' in La Mirada flies high – but aims low

Jan. 23, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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McCoy Rigby and La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts' new staging of the 1962 farce "Boeing-Boeing" stars (from left), Michelle Azar, Carter Roy, Kali Quinones, Melanie Lora, Amy Rutberg and Marc Valera. French playwright Marc Camoletti's script has been translated into English - once in the 1960s and again this past decade. MICHAEL LAMONT

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Italian "air hostess" Gabriella (Kali Quinones), who thinks she's the only fiancée of American architect Bernard (Carter Roy), wants him to tell her when the wedding will take place. MICHAEL LAMONT

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Robert (Marc Valera, left) and buddy Bernard (Carter Roy) are forced to think on their feet when Gretchen (Amy Rutberg), one of playboy Bernard's three flight attendant girlfriends, shows up at his Paris flat unannounced in La Mirada and McCoy Rigby's new production of the 1962 comedy "Boeing-Boeing" by Marc Camoletti. MICHAEL LAMONT

McCoy Rigby and La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts' new staging of the 1962 farce "Boeing-Boeing" stars (from left), Michelle Azar, Carter Roy, Kali Quinones, Melanie Lora, Amy Rutberg and Marc Valera. French playwright Marc Camoletti's script has been translated into English - once in the 1960s and again this past decade.MICHAEL LAMONT

Nothing like a nice, light farce to lift one's mood while welcoming in a new year.

To reach the English-speaking world, "Boeing-Boeing," French playwright Marc Camoletti's signature hit, had to be translated by Beverley Cross. A more recent translation by Francis Evans landed on Broadway, garnering a 2008 Tony Award for best play revival.

In the 1962 comedy, McCoy Rigby Entertainment and La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts have all the necessary ingredients to duplicate that success: an energetic cast, a simple premise and a bright, visually attractive production design.

All that's missing is logic and common sense, because much of the play's basic premise and onstage execution are so patently far-fetched as to border on the absurd. In fact the only way to really enjoy the production, so expertly directed by Jeff Maynard, is to simply ignore the story's nonsensical loopholes and characters' implausible actions.

The basis for laughs here is the meticulous schedule worked out by Bernard (Carter Roy), an American architect living in Paris, so that he can juggle three girlfriends without any of them ever catching on that they're sharing him.

The focal gimmick is that each woman is a flight attendant (here called "air hostesses") serving international routes that fly into and out of Paris' Orly Airport. All Bernard must do is keep current with the Paris timetables of Pan Am, Alitalia and Lufthansa.

Naturally, the only way such a premise could yield comic gold would be if it backfired – and that's exactly, of course, what happens.

That disastrous turn of events sends Bernard into a gradual panic along with Berthe (Michelle Azar), the French housekeeper Bernard runs ragged in convincing the American Gloria (Melanie Lora), Italian Gabriella (Kali Quinones) and German Gretchen (Amy Rutberg) that each is the only girl in his life.

Another key farce ingredient is the entrance of an outsider who both abets and complicates the main character's woes. Here it's Bernard's old pal Robert (Marc Valera), a bland schmo whose lack of success with women is nearly as spectacular as Bernard's creation of an international harem.

As befits any farce, the bulk of "Boeing" revolves around frantic, often desperate attempts by Bernard, Robert and Berthe to keep Gloria, Gabriella and Gretchen from crossing paths.

Even the characters' best efforts, though, aren't enough. Revealing slips of the tongue are rife, close calls are frequent, and though the girls remain surprisingly blind (and, seemingly, completely hard of hearing) to their beau's abnormal behavior, you know it's only a matter of time before his scheme is exposed.

The play demands a lot of dashing on and offstage, with the sometimes scantily clad ladies often lingering too long for Bernard's sanity. Any cast willing to put themselves through such paces deserves kudos, and every member of this cast has honed the required goofiness and comic timing to an art form.

As Bernard, Roy seems a perfectly pleasant yet unremarkable young man. One wonders, in fact, why the three goddesses of the sky are so smitten with him. And Valera's character, Robert, isn't especially well thought-out: We would gain great satisfaction were he to trace a definable arc from clueless hayseed to genuine lady-killer – but the script only halfheartedly attempts to do so.

The women fare much better in creating specific personality traits and integrating them into their actions. Lora's work is especially noteworthy. Her Gloria, so seemingly contented in Act One, is a man-eating tigress who comes out of hiding in Act Two, stirring the drink and generating big laughs.

Rutberg, too, understands that the more Gretchen dominates both men – including some not-so-harmless flirting with Robert – the more we'll chortle. And even given less to work with than Lora or Rutberg, Quinones' Gabriella is a warm and alluring firecracker.

Having polished Gallic vexation to a high gloss, Azar positively walks off with her every scene. In fact, her often deadpan delivery tends to be more comically potent than the frantic activity whirring around her, as is her delight in seeing things crumble around Bernard's ears.

Locking the show into its era are Helen Butler's costumes and Sarah Wolfe's hair, wig and makeup designs for Lora, Quinones and Rutberg, while Kevin Clowes' bright scenic design has the pleasant feel of '60s abstract art.

Outmoded, of course, are the use of landlines, letters and telegrams to send messages. The glamors of cigarette smoking and the glorification of mass airline travel are also from a bygone era, as is the concept of luscious lady flight attendants as little more than sex objects.

Audiences are therefore nearly as likely to find humor in these aspects of the show as in the staging itself – which, given the play's outlandish nature, is more of an asset than one might at first suppose.

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